Reform Party Status

Published: Tuesday, June 13, 2000

WITH THE PRESIDENTIAL election less than five months away, the question of what kind of weight the Reform Party will have this year is of no small importance.

Texas millionaire Ross Perot, the party's founder who has twice run for president on the Reform ticket, has been curiously silent about his plans. We would not be surprised if Mr. Perot announces before the party's Aug. 10-13 convention his intention to run for a third time.

Meanwhile, once-loyal Republican Pat Buchanan is steadily moving toward the Reform Party nomination, with no apparent rival to oppose him.

Mr. Buchanan's long experience in politics has surely made him aware that running on the Reform ticket will be a futile experience that will hurt the Republican Party by siphoning conservative voters. Mr. Perot ran in 1992 and 1996 without winning a single state or getting even one electoral vote.

This is not the time for divisiveness among Republicans. Conservatives, regardless of whether they admire Mr. Buchanan or Mr. Perot, should give their support to the only candidate who has a chance of beating Al Gore.

Texas Gov. George W. Bush will need the support of both conservative and moderate Republicans in November.

He did an admirable job of appealing to party conservatives during the primaries, and we hope his appeal will continue in the general election. All factions of the Republican Party need to pull together to regain the White House.